WordWolf

I know the local churches here are involved with helping the unfortunate, and the financially destitute, and the people who otherwise need help. Actually, I had experience with that sort of thing- but not from twi. People whose training and experience came SOLELY from twi had NO experience with that. I got an incredulous look when was told by someone that the local ex-twiers were considering doing some charity work (with a look like they were saying something momentous) , and I told him I already had done hundreds of hours of charity work. I don't know if it was just so shocking I'd done what he hadn't when he was a leader, or that there were sources I could have managed hundreds of hours in, or if he just thought I was lying through my teeth. Frankly, I knew plenty about initializing that sort of thing and executing them, but "leadership" would rather have had their fingernails ripped out than admit a young guy could have the information they need- especially if it came from non-twi sources. ================ "Nine-tenths goes more with God's Blessing in it- you can't afford NOT to give." How many of you heard that one taught? How many of you heard that one sung?

That's the thing, though... To be in twi, now more than ever, is to have one's self-control, temperance, and moderation lie fallow and atrophy. You can't bar "heat of the moment incidents" because twi'ers at hq with guns who face any inconvenience that threatens their worldview- including people laughing at their threat or flat-out disregarding them- will explode into violence in response due to lack of self-preservation beyond the impulse level. So, I could easily see, say, Linder told to stand there with a gun, and lcm make threats, then the person blows off lcm and turns to leave, lcm screams, and Linder "decides" that shooting someone is preferable to the loss of control demonstrated by them leaving before they're dismissed. That's supposing lcm didn't tell him to shoot, or pull the trigger himself.

"I am still uncomfortable about your leading this away team." "This is not an away team in the strictest sense. I consider this more of a ceremonial function. For me not to go, could be construed a lack of respect, or that I do not regard the mission as significant." "That's a long time to be out of the saddle. Let's hope he's not rusty." "He is a well-liked leader. Their affection is genuine, as is his." "The uniqueness of this presentation provoked my inadvertent breach in protocol. No insult was intended." "Then... none is perceived." "And you don't resent it?" "The VISOR or being blind?" "Either." "They are both part of me, and since I like who I am, why would I resent either being blind or wearing the VISOR?" "What is your position on this ship?" "Engineering officer, sir." "It's a blessing to understand we are special...... each in his own way." "My feeling exactly." "I am the scholar. I represent the intellect. I speak in matters of judgment -- philosophy -- logic. Also, I am -- the dreamer. The part which longs to see the beauty beyond the truth which is always the first duty of art. I am the poet..." "You are not alone. We will solve this..together! " He's very frightened. All his life he's been in control. For once, he doesn't have the answers."

"Begin the day with a friendly voice, a companion unobtrusive" "Plays that song that's so elusive, and the magic music makes your morning move."

Got it in one!

An Add-On is an additional widget to add to your browser, that teaches it a new trick. In this case, it is thw 3.0 addition to Microsoft's XML document parser. Here's what I found online. ===================== MSXML = Microsoft XML parser. 3.0 = Version 3.0 SP9 = Service Pack 9 Basically this allows your applications to work with XML documents/services." "MSXML allows you to open XML documents. It's safe to download and once you install it you shouldn't get the popup anymore." "XML is extensible markup language, MSXML can read & manipulate data from those files. You don't HAVE to install this application. We are just saying that this file is not harmful and that you can install it without fear. Hope that clears it up."

"No one seemed interested enough when he was alive." That is supposition 1. Why did none of the people who were legally ABLE to sue, sue? WD has already decided all of them didn't "seem interested", they didn't CARE. WD seems to not even acknowledge the concept "the courage to do as they did" for those who DID bring a suit. When individuals go up against big corporations, lawyers either tell them not to bother, or point out they have little chance to win- corporations have batteries of lawyers to provide the best "justice" that money can buy. Any one person going up against twi on a cold, objective basis is at a strong tactical DISadvantage based on the amount of resources a corporation (like twi) can bring to bear in a suit- resources that can be used to befuddle, obscure, obfuscate, and misdirect from what can even be an open-and-shut case. (Johnnie Cochran was hardly the first lawyer who made a reputation for doing this sort of thing. I can trace it back to the Greek Empire, others may be able to trace it further back.) Add on the actual situations, and anyone seeking to come forward is at a stronger disadvantage. People were conditioned to believe that to go against twi and against vpw is to go against the will of God Almighty. (For some people, this has stuck for DECADES.) Add to THAT the careful setting of place and time-selecting the people least likely to talk, sending someone as an "exit counselor" to check if they were going to talk, and destroying the few that WOULD talk by kicking them out, then savaging their reputation before they got home so no one would believe them even IF they talked after having been victimized, confused, and made to feel like they were less than dirt and failed God Almighty. We have plenty of personal testimony and eyewitness accounts that agree, and form a rather complete picture, starting with how victims were selected, down to what was done to silence them. ========= Technically, yes, those who DID bring suit and settled out-of-court benefitted themselves and their families, but didn't benefit the rest of us as much as they might if they had gone forth to a full trial. I would not expect them to have done so, however. Lots of people settle out-of-court when the other party is in the wrong. It spares themselves and their families months and years where their lives revolve around a court case, where they will be unable to move past the case, and be put on the witness stand while the other side attempts to paint them as liars, corrupt, and otherwise evil day after day, all for seeking justice. That's a noble goal, but an impractical one for someone who actually has to WORK for a living, and who cares more about their family's well-being than the Platonic ideal of "Justice." If you would consider all of those, and still be willing to sacrifice your family on the altar of ideals (AFTER leaving twi-many of us did that once or more than once IN twi), then all I can say is, I'm glad for your family that you haven't been given this "opportunity" to "demonstrate your commitment to your ideals." =========== As for those who didn't sue, yes, legally, many COULD have sued. To assume "disinterest" - or, to the point, APATHY, as the reason they didn't sue, assumes a great deal. Technically, T*m M1tch311 could have sued lcm for ruining his marriage and nailing his wife. (I'm sure there's a number of crimes that can be charged for such things, including breaching of fiduciary trust and so on.) Was T*m DISINTERESTED? Was he apathetic? His immediate response, when he couldn't save his marriage from lcm, was to shout an outburst about it, then to go blow his brains out with a handgun. That doesn't sound like a DISINTERESTED or apathetic guy to me. It sounds like a guy who was carefully manipulated to the degree that he was unable to see he had recourse to the courts-or was convinced it was against God's will to sue twi or anyone in it- or was convinced he had no hope of winning, or of salvaging his life from that point. I agree "everyone has their reasons" for what the did, and what they did not do, and I'll go so far as to say that we agree that T*m chose poorly among his options. However, that having been said, LACK OF INTEREST was hardly a consideration for him. To claim he was the only one for whom that applied would be silly. (I'm using him as my example because I knew him before lcm ruined his life and T*m blew his brains out. Others speak of the victims THEY knew.)

No one's done that on PAGE 1 OF THIS THREAD. It's an old story at the GSC, and has repeated a lot-just not SPECIFICALLY in the last 24 hours. I have a problem with all the times personal testimony and eyewitness testimony has been downgraded to "opinion" by a handful of posters. Here's an easy difference between the three: "vpw told me he liked to [describes a criminal act] on three different occasions." That's personal testimony. "You made that up because you're bitter. He didn't say that to you." That's opinion. "I was there the day vpw stood there and yelled at her until she had a nervous breakdown. [Describes.]" That's eyewitness testimony. "People only speak up with these allegations now because they're eager to blame vpw for all their problems." That's opinion. All examples made up for this post, to prevent singling anyone out.

It's also supposing nothing would have altered the relationships between gold and the other commodities in the past 80 years, and that it was feasible to stay on a Gold Standard. I don't know whether or not either is true, but those are 2 very large suppositions to take without any documentation of either. Do you really think ANY "Standard" would have been sufficient to keep corrupt fatcats from getting their greasy, unprincipled hands on our money? I

"All of you who do not have a job, raise your hands. And while you have your hands up, I want you to look down because for guys who aren't working, I'm seeing expensive sneakers." "Why couldn't they have had an essay question that said, "Write the story of Icarus"? I would have cleaned up on that." "Because this is not Burger King! You cannot have it your way!" "But we're rich!" "Your mother and I are rich. You have nothing."

"I am still uncomfortable about your leading this away team." "This is not an away team in the strictest sense. I consider this more of a ceremonial function. For me not to go, could be construed a lack of respect, or that I do not regard the mission as significant." "That's a long time to be out of the saddle. Let's hope he's not rusty." "He is a well-liked leader. Their affection is genuine, as is his." "The uniqueness of this presentation provoked my inadvertent breach in protocol. No insult was intended." "Then... none is perceived." "And you don't resent it?" "The VISOR or being blind?" "Either." "They are both part of me, and since I like who I am, why would I resent either being blind or wearing the VISOR?" "What is your position on this ship?" "Engineering officer, sir." "It's a blessing to understand we are special...... each in his own way." "My feeling exactly."

"Begin the day with a friendly voice, a companion unobtrusive"

That's what happens when people discuss, at some point you're going to discuss an opinion or a stance Unless anyone here has announced they are a judge presiding over a twi case, nobody's given a legal opinion or one with binding force one way or the other. Even if they did, that would still be up for discussion, judges dissent all the time. The Supreme Court has minority opinions all the time- other judges are no different, and verdicts can be reversed or overturned. That having been said, many people have been confirmed guilty to my satisfaction. In that dimension, I'm not that easy to satisfy. (Although someone who disagrees with me is free to pretend otherwise, especially if it's their opinion. ========= In other news, I'm glad another of twi's felons has been caught by the long arm of the law.

I'd say a good number of friendships I had in twi were genuine friendships. I's also say a "good" number of friendships I had in twi were manufactured, present in a technical sense but not in any emotional tie beyond twi membership.

I can see nobody else wants to take it.... This is obviously Sesame Street.

"Sussudio." Phil Collins said he started writing it with that word, then had to figure out what the word meant in the song. He eventually went with the easiest meaning.

"I am still uncomfortable about your leading this away team." "This is not an away team in the strictest sense. I consider this more of a ceremonial function. For me not to go, could be construed a lack of respect, or that I do not regard the mission as significant." "That's a long time to be out of the saddle. Let's hope he's not rusty." "He is a well-liked leader. Their affection is genuine, as is his."

Ok. This one is the Deep Space 9 episode where 4 DS9'ers (Sisko, Odo, Worf, and I forget the 4th) were disguised as Klingons entering the Order of the Bat'lelth, in order to infiltrate the Klingons and confirm that Gowron had been replaced by a changeling.

That's fair. Between lurkers, temporary visitors and people who don't post anymore, I'd be shocked if there's 80 regular posters. I'd put the number of regulars closer to 40-50. (Plus non-posters, and they don't need moderation.)

Hey- if he found benefits in being here, and is ready to move on (I believe he has said so, and is correct in saying so), then his arrival and his departure are another "success story" for the GSC, and one for Jonny as well. We don't all take away the same things from here. I wish him well.

No. IMHO, it was an attempt to arrest an active discussion with active participants ======= Whether or not an apparent inability to see the merits in such a discussion, but only moves to suppress it, is evidence of something, is a matter of personal opinion, of course.

And I am CUTE, too!

Right-it's the episode "Code of Honor." Supposedly, Patrick Stewart hated it because it's sexist. It's episode 4, I think, for the series. The Enterprise dealt with the Ligonians because they had a vaccine that was needed to prevent a plague on a planet. The leader there demonstrated his bravery by "counting coup"-in this case, kidnapping Tasha Yar. (Apparently, she lacked the reflexes to stop him...) Data's explanation led to his shot about French. When it's time to return her, he says he wants to marry her, and his wife challenges it-by combat to the death (with the poisoned gloves.) If she dies, her husband gets her wealth (so he wins no matter what.) I had 2 problems with this episode, which were obvious when watching it. Problem 1: "Nothing is allowed to interrupt the fight." Someone loses a weapon. "Interrupt the fight." WHAT? You JUST SAID that's not allowed. Plus, you wanted her to lose ANYWAY. Problem 2: Ligonian law, apparently, isn't very clever. The only end to the battle was "to the death." Supposedly, the wife was KILLED (which means her property reverts to her husband at her death) and was later REVIVED by Starfleet. That's how they explained it-she DIED- which meant they did NOT interfere with the combat. When she was REVIVED, however, there's no legal basis for RETURNING her property, which converted when she DIED. So he should have kept the land. ========= Your turn!

Can you give me a little more information on it?

"That's from an obscure language called French --" "A language which for centuries on Earth represented civilization, Mister Data." "Indeed?" "I suggest you drop it, Mister Data." "I'm a... physician; I've seen death. But not on the scale this could mean." "I warn you, Captain... if you get hurt, I'll put you on report!" "The rules are known; let combat continue until there is a victor. It will not be interrupted. Proceed."